


The Second War

by BetaArtemis



Series: Tales from a New Era [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 22:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetaArtemis/pseuds/BetaArtemis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>7 years after the Breach is closed, Chuck Hansen wakes from a coma to find out how the world has changed and learns of an Anti-Jaeger Program movement threatening the hard fought peace. With rising numbers of bombings and assassination attempts against the Jaeger program and Marshal Hercules Hansen, could a second war be just on the horizon?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second War

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in a series that I am working on for Pacific Rim, I'm quite interested in the possibilities of how the world rebuilds after the Kaiju War and if humanity will go back to its warring ways with each other - so that was the inspiration for this. I do have some photosets and possibly more planned, you can find them on my Chuck blog "strikerschuckhansen" and my personal blog "strikerhercules" tagged under "fanfiction"
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy the story! :) I would love to hear comments too, please tell me whatcha think!

At age 21, Chuck Hansen saw his world fade to white. He never expected to wake up again.

\---------------------------------

7 years, 4 months, and 3 days later, his eyes open.

His first thought is he's alive. It seems impossible but he's alive. He's breathing, his vision's blurry, and there's something down his throat.

He can barely make out a mop of something blond out of the corner of his eyes and when he tries to move, the sudden surge of pain causes a whimper to escape him.

The mop of, what Chuck can see now, blond hair on a small girl's head, pops up sharply at the noise he made and Chuck sees startlingly blue eyes locking onto him with a shocked gaze.

They seem to be at a standstill.

Until the child cries out, "He's awake! He's awake! Get the doctors! Get Daddy! He's awake!"

All Chuck feels is confusion as the girl runs out of his line of vision. He hears beeping noises and alarms going off, more shouts and loud footsteps as people race into the room.

Doctors in white coats enter overhead into his line of sight, they shine a light in his eyes and asks him questions, he blinks at them. They tell him he's been injured and Chuck wonders no shit, of course he is. They say he's at the Shatterdome in the infirmary, that he's been in a coma for over 7 years.

That surprises Chuck, seven years, how could it be seven years? He looks at them questioningly but the doctors tell him he needs to rest. But he wants to know more, he has more questions.

However he can feel himself fading already, he is tired. The last thing Chuck sees is his father's face, he thinks, and his father telling him everything is going to be okay.

\-------------------------------------

When Chuck opens his eyes again, that same mop of blond hair, the same little girl, is still there at his side. But she's not alone, Hercules Hansen is with her and he smiles down at Chuck.

Chuck would use his own still somewhat blurry vision as an excuse so he could ignore the fact that there are tears in his Dad's eyes. He manages to make some kind of sound close to "Dad" before he realizes the tube in his throat is gone and replaced with the one in his nose.

"They took you off two nights ago, you woke up for a bit but fell asleep pretty quickly after they were finished." His Dad answered, seemingly knowing what Chuck wanted to know. The child beside his Dad is quiet, simply watching.

Chuck tries another attempt at speaking, but proper words still won't come out. He wants to know what happened but he can't form the words and it frustrates him.

"Stacker got you out..." His Dad speaks again, still getting his meaning despite the broken noises that barely form words, "Your pod was badly damaged, we didn't know you got out...fishermen found you, got you to a local hospital, took months before they confirmed who you were and contacted us at the dome..."

This all seems crazy and surreal. Chuck hadn't expected to survive, it had been a one way trip for him, but now, he was here. This all seems to be a dream, a fantasy. Maybe he's in heaven now and this is what God has to offer him. 

Chuck tries to move, maybe sit up, and for the first time he recognizes something doesn't feel right with his body. He looks down at himself and through his still blurry vision, sees his right arm missing and his right leg gone from below the knee.

He starts to hyperventilate, his breathing quickens as everything fades around him. He barely hears his father shouting for doctors, he barely feels a gentle touch from a small hand on his shoulder. All he sees are limbs he shouldn't be missing and feeling suddenly nauseated.

He feels a slight pinch on his shoulder before his vision goes black.

\--------------------------------------

When they inform Chuck about the extent of his injuries - the right arm gone, right leg amputated below the knee, and his right eye being damaged hence his slight blurry vision with it - he screams and nearly rips out his IVs.

By the time he stops, he's too tired to even glare at his father who's sitting in the chair beside his bed. Chuck lays there exhausted and frustrated, fuming silently, feeling both betrayed and bitter.

His father tries to tell him that it will be okay, that they will get through this, but Chuck just ignores him.

He goes to sleep soon dreaming about running through the beach as a child, laughing and happy, and the warm sand beneath his feet.

\------------------------------------

When he manages to finally form the word Max and asks after his dog, Mako is there this time. Her face solemn and pained as she tells him, in the most gentle way she could, that Max had passed away a year ago.

Chuck feels like his world had gone wrong all over again, just like it had when his Mom died. What is his world without Max? He should have been there!

Suddenly he's crying, crying like he hadn't done since he was a boy, and he can't stop. He barely is aware of Mako hugging him as he cries into her shirt, clutching her arm with his left hand as tightly as he could.

He doesn't remember falling asleep in her arms.

\----------------------------------

His Dad is there with the blond girl again when he wakes the next time. The girl looks at him with her big wide eyes curiously while his Dad smiles reassuringly, a gentle hand on his shoulder as he expresses how he's glad to see Chuck awake and getting better, and they need to talk.

Chuck has the sinking feeling that this wasn't going to end well, for one, they never really talked, they were Hansens, talking with each other was never their forte.

And how right Chuck was. Because as soon as his father tells him that the little girl is his sister, his half sister, that his father had gotten together for a while with another woman, Chuck sees red. All the pent up frustration, anger at himself, bitterness about his injuries, and grief over losing Max reaches a boiling point and he lets the rage go.

He's so busy screaming and yelling "No" that he never sees the little girl racing out of the room. He does see hurt in his father's eyes before the old man turns to run after the girl, but Chuck was way too furious to care.

How could his father betray him like that, betray his Mom? All Chuck saw was his old man trying to replace him and his Mom with a new family.

\----------------------------------

When Chuck wakes again, it's Raleigh sitting by his bed with a disapproving gaze.

"You're an ass, you know that?"

Chuck only glared at Raleigh in response but it didn't seem to stop the older pilot from looking even more disapproving and disappointed.

"That girl thinks the world of you...she's here every morning, every afternoon, every night, first one in and last one out...you're her hero and this is how you react..." Raleigh crosses his arms.

Chuck scowls. He doesn't need Raleigh to act like his parent, he doesn't need anyone to lord over him. He manages to mutter out "Life unfair...no heroes..."

But Raleigh seems undeterred by what Chuck says as he continues on, "You proud of yourself then? She's six and she thinks you hate her..."

Chuck wants to shout he does but stops himself when he realizes that actually he doesn't, and he feels bad. He didn't mean to upset a kid, he was just so angry. And as much as he wants to hate her, he knows the anger isn't directed at her, not really. But he doesn't want to admit it, refuses to admit it, especially not to Raleigh of all people.

Raleigh just sighs and shakes his head, moving to walk out of the room before turning back, tone serious, almost pleading, "Fix it Chuck...you're her big brother, don't do that to her..."

Chuck wants to say Raleigh's parting words didn't have an effect on him but he knows it did. By the time Chuck felt the need to rest, he was in a considerably more miserable mood than before, all because he felt like a scolded child who knew they had to apologize for committing a terrible wrong.

\---------------------------------------

Chuck wakes to find the mop of blond hair at his bedside again on the right. For a few moment, he simply watches her sleeping. She looks peaceful, angelic. Her head pillowed by her arms on the edge of his bed as she dozes off, a pair of dog tags clutched in her small hands. Closer inspection tells Chuck that it's his tags, the ones he thought must have been destroyed in his near death incident.

He tries to reach the tags with his left arm without causing noises but all he did was succeeding in stirring the little one from her slumber. He watched her rub her eyes before finding them locked with his.

Chuck saw a flash of fear in her gaze and he suddenly feels angry at himself. He had been a Jaeger pilot tasked with saving the world, he shouldn't be causing fear in anyone, most of all a little girl who hasn't done anything wrong other than being born. It wasn't her fault. His enemy had been the Kaiju, monsters, not a child. 

The little girl was nervous, slightly fidgeting, Chuck could tell. But she plucks up the courage to eventually hand him the dog tags.

"They're yours..." Her voice soft.

Chuck accepts them and gives her a small smile. She seems to brighten at seeing him not angry. It makes Chuck feel like a total jerk for making her worried and scared in the first place.

"Are you...feeling better?" She asks, voice still a little cautious, as if unsure of what to say and not wanting to anger him.

It makes Chuck feel even more terrible for what he did. Not much of a big brother is he?

"Yeah...a little...better..." He answers her, still a little choppy but she doesn't seem to mind as she finally smiles. Chuck feels a little bit better when he sees that, "Your name?"

Chuck realizes that all this time, he hadn't even known her name, hadn't bothered to even ask, not to his father and not to Raleigh.

"Charley..." She replies without hesitation, "Mama named me after you and Daddy..."

Chuck gazes at her stunned, shock all over his face. After him? They'd named her after him? He's not sure how to even respond to that.

"I'm Charley Hera Hansen."

**Author's Note:**

> Working on Chapter Two, story is to be continued...


End file.
